This invention relates to an annular article-wrapping member in which an annular article, such as a helically-wound wire-like element (for example, electric wire) and a tire, is sealingly wrapped. The invention also relates to a wrapping member in which plastics wrapping materials are joined together by heat sealing, and such a heat-sealed portion is prevented from being ruptured during transport and loading/unloading of the package.
A common conventional method of wrapping an annular article, such as a helically-wound wire-like element (e.g., electric wire) and a tire, is to helically wind a band-like paper sheet or film on the annular article, this method being called "helical wrapping". In some cases, a sleeve wrapping using a shrinkable wrapping material has also been employed.
In the above helical wrapping, the shape of the annular article to be wrapped is the same as the shape of the package after the wrapping, and therefore advantageously its contents can be recognized from the appearance of the package. Another advantage is that since the bore of the annular article is hollow, the package is convenient for transport.
However, the helical wrapping performed by a wrapping machine has not made progress in automation despite the fact that other wrappings have made much progress in rationalization and automation, and at present the helical wrapping still depends on a manual operation or a semi-automatic operation. The reason that the progress of the automatic wrapping has not been made is as follows. When the helical wrapping is automated, a band-like paper sheet or film is helically wound on an annular article with adjacent turns partially overlapping each other, and in this winding step, since the adjacent turns of the helical winding are often inadequately held in contact with each other at the outer periphery, the overlapped portions are displaced relative to each other, so that the helical winding becomes loose, thus affecting the wrapping condition. Further, since a roll of paper or film is passed through the bore of the annular article during the winding, the size of this roll is limited, so that a long winding can not be effected. This results in a disadvantage that a fresh supply of the paper or film must be made frequently.
A further disadvantage of the helical wrapping depending on a wrapping machine is that since the band-like paper sheet or film is helically wound on the annular article, the contents are exposed when the band-like paper sheet or film thus wound is displaced out of place or is ruptured.